Please note: This is an in-person only event.
In the language of economics, ‘the invisible hand,’ refers to the unseen forces of the free market economy. The invisible hand of whiteness in Latin America centers white supremacy as the invisible force that subjugated an entire region. In recent years, in particular in the 1980s, U.S. foreign policy acted as an instrument of colonization that ultimately led to mass exoduses from Central and South America. We will follow clinical case examples to highlight how the invisible hand of whiteness, foreign policy, historical and current colonization impact the immigrants’ psyche and social functioning.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:
1. Apply decolonial concepts to their clinical practice.
2. Analyze their countertransference in the context of coloniality in the treatment dyad.
3. Integrate non-analytic concepts (foreign policy) to clinical material (clinical work with immigrants).
Rossanna Echegoyén, LCSW is a Latina/Bilingual psychoanalyst whose interest lies at the intersection of psychoanalysis and socio-political concerns. She provides immigration evaluations to asylee seekers at ICE detention centers. She maintains a private practice in New York City where her leadership and collaborative work was instrumental for institutional change in the psychoanalytic community. At Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis, she served as the first Latina Co-Director of MIP and the One Year Program in Psychoanalysis and the Sociopolitical World. She is founder of CORE (Committee on Race and Ethnicity) at MIP, Co-Founder of The Psychoanalytic Coalition for Social Justice and Co-Editor of Div. 39-Sec. 9 The Psychoanalytic Activist.
References:
Bragin, Martha. (2019) Myth, Memory and Meaning: Understanding and Treating Adolescents in Forced Migration. J. Infant Child Adolescent Psychotherapy, (18)(4):319-329.
Hollander, Nancy. (2006). Negotiating Trauma and Loss in the Migration Experience. Studies in Gender and Sexuality, (7)(1):61-70.
Ryan, David. (1999). Colonialism and Hegemony in Latin America: An Introduction. The International Review, June 1999, Vol. 21, No. 2.
Volkan, Vamik D. (2014). Psychoanalysis, International Relations, and Diplomacy. New York: Karnac Books.
Volkan, Vamik D. (2017). Immigrants and Refugees: Trauma, Perennial Mourning, Prejudice, and Border Psychology. New York: Routledge.
Okazaki, Sumie, E.J.R. David & Nancy Abelman. (2007). Colonialism and Psychology of Culture. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, Vol.2, Issue 1: 90-106.